Wednesday, March 05, 2003

WiFi in Government The March issue of Governing magazine has a nice review of the use of wireless in government.  Our statewide mobile data project which combines 802.11 hotspots with 450 MHz continues to progress with an enterprise level security solution that is being finalized as ITS works with a team from the Dept. of Public Safety. 7:37:35 PM    comment []

AG's use of West km According to a report from Stockwatch, The Utah Attorney General's office has implemented West km, the innovative new knowledge management service that enables legal professionals to be more efficient in serving their clients' needs by providing access to the collective and historical legal experience and expertise -- knowledge -- of their organization. Knowledge management is a strategic and competitive necessity for today's government legal professionals, who are under increasing pressure to optimize productivity and reduce operational costs. Many are turning to knowledge management programs, but accessing and using the knowledge contained in legal documents and brief banks, as well as maintaining the currentness of the data, have long been formidable barriers to putting critical know-how to work. I don't know much about West km, but will look into it. 4:27:46 PM    comment []

The Last Day It's the last day of the 2003 legislative session in Utah.  I just got back from the Executive Appropriations committee which began a day which will be very hectic.  I expect things to continue right up to midnight tonight.  SB 151 has yet to pass the House, but it moved to the third reading calendar yesterday. In other news, the Salt Lake County Council voted yesterday 5-4 to join the Utah Communications Agency Network (UCAN) 800 MHz system.  This will leave Salt Lake City as the only law enforcement entity in Salt Lake Valley that does not participate with UCAN.  The contract is for ten years. 8:08:57 AM    comment []

New Biodiesel Source Bob Morris, author of Politics in the Zeros points out a new source of biodiesel, originating right here in Utah: Smithfield Foods Inc. (SFD.N), the nation's largest pork producer, said last week it will build a $20 million facility in Utah that will use waste from 500,000 hogs to make biodiesel, a renewable vehicle fuel. 6:59:24 AM    comment []

RSS in Government Ray Matthews has created a new weblog entitled "RSS in Government".  Put this in the category of "must read."  Based on what I know about Ray's work, this will be a great resource, not only for our efforts to make RSS the standard for news in Utah government, but for everyone else out there.  Ray has published an excellent article, "Four Models for Aggregating and Publishing RSS Headlines."  Ray also points out Chris Riding's  RSS-based "Fresh Search" engine.  It looks like a nice addition and the results can be served up as RSS feeds.  That's a great service. Ray's weblog is the best new development since Jenny Levine wrote that Utah was wrapped in RSS. 6:25:51 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 David Fletcher.